Chapter 53-Part 1

Ji Ran looked at the silent teenager beside her. They had attended two classes in the afternoon, and he remained silent throughout. Ji Ran hadn’t expected a love letter to stir up such excitement in him.

Some people had also sent love letters to Ji Ran before, directly placing them in the hole in her desk; some even stopped her to give them to her personally.

Ji Ran never opened any of them.

Though she might have disappointed others’ intentions, she believed that outright rejection without mercy was the best response for someone she didn’t like.

During physics class, everyone seemed drowsy.

While listening to the passionate voice of the physics teacher at the podium, Ji Ran pondered how to explain things to the person beside her.

She just hadn’t anticipated that Shen Zhi, this dignified figure, could be so petty at times.

Finally, as the physics teacher turned to write on the blackboard, Ji Ran glanced at the person beside her. He had lowered his head slightly, engrossed in the book in front of him, but his gaze seemed distant, resembling a trance.

Ji Ran wrote a sentence on her notebook and gently pushed it onto his desk.

Though Shen Zhi hadn’t been looking at the blackboard, he had indeed been attentively listening to the class just now; he had simply spaced out now that the physics teacher was writing on the blackboard.

In the next moment, he caught sight of the notebook being pushed towards him from the corner of his eye.

On it was written a graceful and handsome script.

【Are you angry?】

Ji Ran’s handwriting was beautiful, unlike the delicate and pretty style of most girls; hers was more robust, quite different from her appearance.

But Shen Zhi liked it.

Shen Zhi lowered his eyes to the notebook in front of him, and finally, he extended a finger, pressing it against the notebook and sliding it towards himself.

Beside him, Ji Ran breathed a sigh of relief. Good, he was willing to read what she had written.

Though she felt quite innocent in this matter—it was someone else writing love letters to her, not the other way around.

Until Shen Zhi pushed the notebook back once more, Ji Ran looked down at the words he had written.

【No.】

If it were just this sentence, Ji Ran might have believed that he truly wasn’t angry. But upon seeing the words below, she couldn’t help but smile.

【Have you received this kind of thing before?】

Clearly, Shen Zhi couldn’t even be bothered to write the word “love letter.”

Ji Ran lowered her head and wrote two words in the notebook.

【Yes.】

She had always been open and straightforward, feeling that there was nothing to hide about such matters. She held the pen, ready to continue writing, but she had never opened any of those letters, let alone read them.

The physics teacher at the podium scanned the entire classroom, not seeing a single student willing to volunteer to solve the problem.

So, he gently glanced toward Ji Ran and Shen Zhi’s seats.

Since the midterm exam, Shen Zhi, who scored full marks, and Ji Ran, who scored high, have become his newly favored students. Especially in his view, although Ji Ran hadn’t scored full marks, she definitely had the potential.

Having two students score full marks in physics in one class would surely bring him some prestige.

So, the physics teacher said gently, “Let Ji Ran and Shen Zhi come up to solve the problem.”

The tip of Ji Ran’s pen paused on the paper; she hadn’t even written a single word of explanation yet. She glanced at Shen Zhi, who at that moment had his eyes slightly closed, staring at the two words on the notebook.

Yes.

Shen Zhi smiled wryly. What was there to say? Nowadays, high school students don’t focus on studying; what are they always thinking about?

His eye twitched slightly, and he stood up from his chair unhurriedly.

The two of them walked to the front of the blackboard, one after the other, while the physics teacher stepped back and stood near the door.

As the sound of their chalk hitting the board began, whispers erupted in the classroom.

Ji Ran felt a sweetness in her heart, realizing that solving problems at the blackboard with someone she liked wasn’t such a bad feeling. She thought as she looked at the problem in front of her.

One minute later, Shen Zhi whispered, “Ji Ran, keep it up.”

Ji Ran’s smile was just starting to spread when she suddenly caught sight of the boy encouraging her. He turned around, threw the chalk into the box on the podium, and then leisurely walked back to his seat.

What did he mean by encouraging her?

Was he implying that she was answering too slowly?

Ji Ran felt a mix of embarrassment and anger, so her chalk swiftly wrote on the blackboard, the crisp sound echoing in the classroom, leaving the other classmates in Class 8 with a strange feeling.

It seemed like Ji Ran wasn’t answering the question but rather venting…

When she returned to her desk, she deliberately didn’t look at Shen Zhi.

She still felt that the “keep it up” he said before leaving wasn’t genuine encouragement but rather a way to humiliate her.

Yes, last time in physics, she did score four points less than him.

It was the subject where they had the biggest gap in scores among the three science subjects.

Until the end of class, Ji Ran remained sullen. Being a girl with a strong sense of pride, she couldn’t tolerate this kind of humiliation in her studies.

No, she absolutely couldn’t.

But Shen Zhi seemed to sense her mood, lightly tapping his finger on her desk twice. “Ji Ran.”

She looked up, and Shen Zhi said, “During the midterm exam, was the gap between your score and mine the biggest in the combined science subjects? Is that why you rank second in the grade?”

Shen Zhi’s expression was calm, his tone indifferent, as if discussing something ordinary.

But Ji Ran felt like her head was about to explode. What was he trying to do? It had been so long since the midterm exam; did he still want to show off his victory?

“So, do you want to be as good in combined sciences as I am?”

Ji Ran: “…”

Could she just reject this presumptive boyfriend candidate?

She pouted slightly, looking unhappy, with a little expression of having touched upon her sore spot.

Shen Zhi smiled.

He leaned in slightly, licked his lips, then chuckled softly and said in a very low voice, “Ji Ran, do you want to do it?”

This time, his voice carried a layer of tenderness, so deep and pleasing that it was like deliberately trying to seduce her.

Finally, Ji Ran nodded slowly.

Was she definitely under his spell?

Shen Zhi was thoroughly satisfied with this smile. He would keep her close under the pretext of studying. He wanted to see who dared to flirt with him in front of her.

As for Ji Ran, she couldn’t have imagined the hidden intentions behind Shen Zhi’s sudden suggestion.

She really thought it was just a simple study invitation.

Sure enough, after that, Shen Zhi even proposed to specially design a study plan for Ji Ran, calling it a reinforcement plan.

He casually remarked, “Your grades are already good enough; it’s just that combined sciences are slightly lagging behind. But the college entrance exam is a test where every point matters.”

Big Boss Shen usually didn’t preach, so when he spoke brainwashing words that sounded like something only a homeroom teacher should say, Ji Ran was actually moved by him, feeling like he was right.

After all, she hadn’t experienced the college entrance exam in her previous life.

It was like everyone was gold, but only her gold hadn’t been refined by real fire, feeling a bit impure.

It wasn’t until Shen Zhi said, “Let’s go to the bookstore together this weekend. I can recommend the reference books I usually use to you.”

Ji Ran turned to look at him with a look that seemed to say, “I knew you had something hidden.”

So much so that Ji Ran, who usually only focused on studying, completely overlooked the invitation to go to the bookstore on the weekend, which seemed like a date.

When school was over, Wen Qianxia was still asking Ji Ran about the love letter, but Ji Ran didn’t say anything. Actually, she had a rough idea of who sent it, but she didn’t expect the sender to persist.

She didn’t think much about the letter, anyway. Since the first and second grades were in different buildings, they rarely crossed paths.

Little did she know that the next day, while Ji Ran and Wen Qianxia were cleaning the sanitary area near the basketball court, they suddenly bumped into Xiao Bo and his flag guard team training.

The school’s flag guard team was quite formal; they trained three times a week.

Because it got dark early in the winter, the teachers scheduled their training in the morning, and Ji Ran happened to encounter them.

“Xiao Bo, look, it’s Ji Ran.”

“Hey, did you manage to catch up to the school flower?”

There was a commotion in the team, but fortunately, the instructor came over quickly, and a few boys didn’t dare to speak. But today the sky was overcast, and before long, raindrops started to fall.

The teacher glanced at the weather and quickly said, “Alright, training stops here today because of the bad weather. You all should hurry back.”

With the sky darkening and the wind picking up, Ji Ran frowned slightly, planning to finish the last bit of cleaning before going back.

Beside her, Wen Qianxia looked up at the sky and shouted, “Ji Ran, let’s go back first; it’s going to rain soon.”

“Why don’t you go ahead? I still have a little bit left here,” Ji Ran said helplessly.

Of course, Wen Qianxia wouldn’t leave her alone, so she walked over to Ji Ran.

But unexpectedly, Xiao Bo, who had originally intended to go back to the classroom, noticed she hadn’t left yet and changed direction to walk towards Ji Ran. So, Wen Qianxia watched as the tall and handsome younger student approached Ji Ran and couldn’t help but stare at him for a few moments.

Until Xiao Bo took the initiative to ask, “Ji Ran, do you need any help?”